Stargate: Dark Frontier 2x04 Shadows in the Dark
by Lone-ranger1
Summary: After 2 months of exhaustive effort, Atlantis has calmed down since the escape from the Shade and Olim. Now Sam's got a mission in mind, and it's right up in orbit. But what exactly will the team find on this ancient space station?
1. Chapter 1

**Stargate: Dark Frontier**

**Season 2 **

**Episode 4 – Shadows in the Dark  
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_369 Days IHO (In Hoag's Object)_

_61 Days AOI_

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For information on season 1, go to

http(COLON)//sg-darkfrontier(DOT)wikia(DOT)com/wiki/Stargate(COLON)_Dark_Frontier_Wiki

**Previously on Dark Frontier:** _In the 2 months since the Olim Invasion and evacuation from Saudade, Atlantis has calmed down once more. The Travelers and Settlers are working together towards a common goal, and our heroes can finally focus their attention on matters beyond survival._

_Exploring this new and dark frontier begins right next door, with the space station left in orbit from an unknown time._

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**Dan Drake:** "Looks like this used to be a barracks."

**Wex:** "A small rodent?"

**Alicia Vega: **"Huh?"

**Wex: **"A barracks is a rodent. Daniel explained that it actually looks much like what you know as a 'ferret'."

**Chuck Campbell:** "To us, a Barracks is a place where soldiers all sleep together... Well, not _together_ together as in the same bed, but in the same room."

**Wex**_: "Oh, really?_ Here I was wondering where the giant bed was."

* * *

Ronon wasn't exactly pleased with being woken up at seven thirty in the morning, but John and Sam seemed to be adamant that he'd want to see this. He wasn't too surprised to see the other military minded people inside Sam's lab as well. It was well stocked with all sorts of gadgets and equipment, but the group of people in the center drew his attention. "Hey."

Sam was standing in the middle of the group consisting of John, Dan, Alicia, and Aleron, wearing one of the new uniforms they'd made up, except it looked a little thicker and with some extra pouches and wires. There were plates of what looked to be armor on non-jointed areas, and overall Ronon thought it looked like impressive battle armor. The strangest addition was the gloves and eyepiece that resembled what John and Aleron had been wearing when using the Olim armor. "Ronon! Good morning, I think you'll enjoy what I've got to show you."

Standing next to Aleron and Alicia, Ronon grumbled. "I'm missing breakfast, and I think Chuck said something about the election results."

John smirked, and deadpanned. "I thought you hated politics."

Huffing, Ronon replied. "That's why I wanna know. So I can kill whoever votes for me."

Aleron rolled his eye and gave Ronon a sidelong glance. "I think we should hurry. Ronon's the type to bite, I think."

Everyone chuckled, mostly because they knew it was true. Alicia kept eyeing the suit Sam was wearing and noticing the changes from her own uniform.

Ronon had been surprised with Sam's sudden change. He'd come to see her as a politician before the invasion; someone who just gave orders and never followed through on her own. At times, she seemed like the warrior the EarthBorn said she was, but he'd lost that image of her in the past year.

The past two months had proved him wrong. Her tireless work setting up proper housing for the Settlers and Travelers to live, the supervision and hard work installing hydroponic labs, even her instruction of several settlers in how to use basic technologies like computers and email. He'd never liked how Sheppard had gotten so close to her, but now he was starting to reassess his opinion.

"So what exactly are you going to show us? You mentioned something about armor but it doesn't look that different from just regular body armor."

Ronon wished Dusty were here. She was still in a coma and despite going to see her everyday she hadn't improved much beyond healing the physical injuries. Carson said something about her brain having suffered a hypowhatsit trauma and it was completely up to her involuntary system as to whether she'd come out of it or not.

Sam nodded then looked to the group. "Right, that's the first part of what I've got to show you. John actually was the one to give me the final idea, but I can show you the product." Looking to Ronon, she nodded and raised her right hand after entering some information on her wrist computer strapped to her left. "Alright, Ronon, I want you to punch my hand."

Ronon turned his eyes to John and saw him give a gentle nod. Hey, when else did he get to do stuff like this? Coiling his body, Ronon unleashed a full force punch against Sam's almost dainty gloved hand…

And cried out in agony as her hand barely moved back as it blocked his strike sending him back to the floor Sam's body seemingly took the blow evenly. He could feel the bones in his hand scream in pain, though after years of punching hard objects, they hadn't broken.

Sam simply turned to John in irritation. "_John!_ You said you'd tell him to go soft!"

Dan chuckled softly as he admired the scene. "I think he did."

Ronon grimaced, and finally barked. "What the hell!? How'd you do that?"

Sam was still annoyed with John, but she pulled the glove off revealing wiring leading down her sleeve. "It's the product of reverse engineering." She motioned to Aleron who remained impassive. "As you know, the Olim have their Alcaeus Armor. When we used the EMP modified shield emitters to drive off their invasion, we were left with over two dozen fried units."

Aleron then explained. Though the lack of emotion on his face was as telling as his anger or relief would have. "The Alcaeus Armor uses a mental interface to use your brain as the processing unit with which to compute how it reacts to its environment. Carson says that only a natural gene is compatible with it, which means only about two percent of the entire city is capable of using it."

Sam nodded. "If we want any chance against the Shade or the Olim in a ground based battle, we need something to even the odds." She then opened up the pouch on her side, revealing what looked like a mishmash of two different computers. "Meet the 'Proteus' armor. It's a combination of the parts left over from the Alcaeus armor that we could salvage, as well as some Traveler components and Earth computer programs."

Dan was instantly smitten. "Fuckin' A. How's it work?"

Sam hid her irritation at Dan's language, if anyone was going to benefit from this armor, it'd be him. "It works by using a similar concept as the Alcaeus armor with magnetic fields, but instead of a full body suit which we just don't have the capability to replicate…" She tapped a few places on her body, most of them along her joints and limbs. The tapping was distinctly metallic. "…it uses a series of plates and discs to give us similar results. Instead of a mental interface…" She now tapped her wrist computer, "You program the parameters for the situation right here. When you put the suit on, you have to input your specific sizes, the magnetic fields are then programmed to allow you a few different abilities not dissimilar to the Alcaeus Armor without inhibiting your mobility."

John smiled at Ronon who scowled at them both. "You just felt the 'strength' mode. Holds the plates in place unless the person themselves moves their body. Pretty cool really."

Rubbing his sore knuckles, Ronon growled. "Thanks."

Sam shook her head in sympathy for Ronon. "Right now we've only got eight of them in working order, but we've pretty much combined Traveler wetware, and EVA functions, Earth ballistics and interface, as well as the Olim magnetic support system which we're likely going to upgrade anyway in order to make an all around efficient and powerful battle and recon armor. It increases a person's strength considerably, reduces recoil from automatic weapons. It can even potentially stop a Shade pincer if it hits one of the strategically placed magnetically held plates. " She reached down and offered Ronon a hand.

Ronon took hold and was only a little surprised when Sam easily picked him up. "Great, I want two hundred."

* * *

"What the hell? Chuck, why is there a rainbow cow in the hallway!?"

Chuck winced as he heard Laura's irate voice came in from outside their quarters. The place was neatly kept which was a stark contrast to what was going on outside. He let the computer continue logging on and turned to face the wrath head on. "It's not mine! I'm just holding it for…"

Laura gave a cry of disgust. "_AHH! He's POOING!_ Augh! It's steaming up the hallway!!" She entered as she screamed and quickly shut the door. "_CHUCK!_"

Holding up his hands in surrender, shirking back on his seat and making himself _very_ small, Chuck explained. "It's part of the betting! Trudus didn't want to spend any credits so he gave me that! Daniel told me to accept it so we didn't start a riot and I don't know where to keep him!"

Confused beyond belief, Laura shook her head and continued ranting. "Betting? Trudus? Daniel? What the hell are you talking about?"

Motioning to the computer where an email popup had pinged, Chuck quickly explained. "The election. Someone started doing bets and it was getting out of hand so Daniel asked me to start a 'legal' betting system so they can get it out of their system and not kill each other."

Still very confused, Laura palmed her face and groaned. "That still doesn't explain why there's a giant rainbow colored zebra cow in front of my quarters!"

Carefully opening the email with delicate precision, just to not elicit an instinctual reaction from Laura, Chuck showed the bookie slips and election results he'd just gotten. "Laura, the Settlers and Travelers were starting a black market betting system on who'd get elected. I don't know who started it, but Daniel didn't want anyone to starve because they wasted all their credits, so he put me in charge of a legal system that won't suck them dry. Look."

Looking to the screen, Laura could see a mix of the results for the election, as well as odds, and even amounts placed on different contenders. Laura couldn't believe it. "What the hell? That's messed up!"

Chuck shrugged and continued perusing through the list. "I know, just proof I guess that a credit system will just encourage gambling."

Laura shook her head and looked around for something long and intimidating to scare the cow off. "Not that silly. You got elected head of Parks and Recreation!"

Chuck turned back to the screen and gasped. "What the hell? I didn't even volunteer!"

* * *

With the election result in front of her as she ate lunch with John and Rafaela, Sam was ecstatic that the first mission might go ahead now. Now that this elections chaos was over, she could finally put her talents to use. It was surprisingly nice not to have to worry too much about the politics of the city, instead, just focusing on research and exploration.

She'd won the position she wanted, but truthfully no one challenged her so it was a hollow victory, but what a victory! Head of her own department dedicated to researching Ancient technologies, and once everything was back in somewhat order, exploration of Hoag's Object alongside John who had taken over supervision of off-world teams.

The mission she had now was simple. Daniel had confirmed using the Seeder ship's database that the Ancients did find a way to get back to the Milky Way. That meant that any labs would likely have information on how they did it and possibly give them a way back. With the threat of the Wraith and Asurans following them gone, Atlantis would likely be welcomed with open arms especially with all the technology they'd been able to scavenge and reverse engineer.

The overall vibe Sam felt was good, but she had to admit she missed Mila hanging around. Those two weeks after the invasion had been hard on her, and Sam had confided in the young girl quite a bit of her own pain in the hopes that misery loved company. She'd slowly come out of her stupor, then to Sam's surprise, took off with Kevin and Larrin on _Daedalus_ and _Navras_. Daniel and Teyla on the other hand were busy as beavers, what with taking over all of Sam's old administrative duties.

"So John, what's it feel like to be head of offworld missions?"

John snorted and took a sip of his freshly brewed Traveler Coffee. The sun shining in through the stained glass windows glistened the top of his coffee which seemed oddly shiny. "I dunno, do I get paid anymore?"

Rafaela snickered, following Radek's advice was proving better than she'd expected. "At least you're the head, I'm stuck being an assistant."

Sam chuckled and spooned some more food into her mouth. She spoke while chewing causing some slight confusion. "Being the head means you get more work. I'd love you to join me but until Radek gets better, I think it's better you assist him." Her smile waned a little. "Besides, it's not like I'm not down there in your lab everyday anyway with you two." Perking up, Sam swallowed and spoke clearly. "Actually, Radek was telling me about your idea of aerosolizing Naquadria for use in the..." Sam shot John a hostile yet still slightly amused look. John just smirked. "...'_TAGGER.'_ That's pretty ingenious if you don't mind me saying so. How's that going?"

Rafaela smiled and became a little bashful. "Actually it's already done. All we need is to do some testing and it's just about ready."

Sam shook her head in impressed disbelief. "That's incredible! I'd been thinking about trying to aerosolize Naquadria the same way the Olim do Naquadah, but I wasn't sure about stability issues. How'd you work it out?"

John simply remained silent. It was nice to be able to simply eat and not have to talk all the time. With Ronon busy as the new head of Atlantis Military, setting up proper training classes for both Travelers and Settlers, and Dan assisting, it was surprisingly easy for him to just work with Laura and Chuck on inventory. He'd also Sam whenever she needed a guinea pig, or even Radek just to hang around. Alicia had been busy keeping Aleron _company_ as well as helping Ronon out every now and again. Alicia had complained relentlessly, but she'd also gleaned important information from the Olim, and John had seen an overall improvement of Alicia's leadership qualities.

The past two months had been quite boring overall, but also exciting in the sense that with so many people, it was hard to find time to feel sorry for one's self. The only snag was Kevin, and how he'd left Atlantis in _Daedalus_ to scout out Olim positions and potential new Beta sites. None would be colonized per say, but it was smart thinking to have backup plans. With Larrin having gone with him, it was strange to not have such a dark cloud hanging over the city.

The loss of Katana had bothered him somewhat, but not the loss of the Traveler herself. It was the way everyone except the Travelers seemed to just take it in stride, even though it had been a horrific death. The first few weeks had been bad but after that, it was all ahead full. He couldn't imagine how Kevin must have been… Well, losing Rodney had been bad. Maybe John did know what Kevin was going though.

Rafaela gave her cute little shrug, she seemed embarrassed to explain. "Well… it was actually by accident I got the idea. Maybe you remember two weeks ago when Nevas and _Medai_ brought back those bean things from the old settler village?"

Sam nodded and groaned softly as she looked to John. "Yeah, never thought I could open the windows that fast."

John scoffed softly. "Do you _have_ to mention that while we're eating?"

Sam laughed. It was good to laugh like this again. "Please, you loved that chili. I almost slept out on the balcony." She gave John a break after a second and looked to Rafaela. "So you still haven't told me your 'eureka' moment."

Around them, both Travelers and Settlers milled about as they went by their days. Rafaela wondered how many of them had issues like she had? How many were avoiding their friends because they'd given in to some weak temptation for short term relief? The pain was mostly gone now, but all that was left was the shame.

Dusty was still in a coma, but Rafaela had gotten used to it. Was that what Reyna and Dan had meant by dealing with it? Getting used to a situation? The technical term was acclimate, and Rafaela couldn't help but feel a little sick that she had _acclimated_ to the situation. There were still many people injured and in need of physiotherapy or even handicap assistance. Rafaela couldn't and didn't want to imagine what that was like.

So instead, she'd focused on her work. "Well, I ran into Chuck while heading to a transporter, and well…when we were inside he kind of…"

Sam screwed her face in mild disgust. "Oh." As she thought about it though, it finally dawned on her. "Oh… _Oh!_ Wait a second, you mean...?"

"Yeah, it was so simple and yet…"

"…It's almost _too_ simple, no wonder we never saw it."

"Well that and we're not biologists."

"Or farmers."

John watched as Sam and Rafaela traded geek talk back and forth. "Uhh…Farmers? biologists? What the heck are you two talkin' 'bout?"

Sam saw that John didn't get a single clue of the event, and after popping in the last of her tater tot-like grilled veggies, she motioned with her head. "Cows. And if you two are done, let's go take a look. We might even be able to get it done before the mission."

John raised an eyebrow as Sam towered over him. "Mission? What are you talking about?"

Sam grinned deviously and pointed up. "The space station. I _want_ it."

* * *

The office in the Gate Room which had formerly been Sam's was now Daniel's, and the odd knickknacks he'd been collecting were piling up enough that Sam hardly recognized it.. Sam found that despite this being the center of power in the city, she really didn't miss it.

Daniel was seated at the deck and took his glasses off to look at Sam more directly. "Sorry? You want permission to do _what_?"

Sam shrugged sheepishly and snickered at the odd reversal. She had her head held high, her spine straight and hands behind her back. "Well, you _are_ the Prime Minister, Doctor Jackson. As your head of research and exploration, it's only fitting that I clear everything through proper channels."

Daniel couldn't believe it. Sam was _mocking_ him! "_SAM!_"

Teyla was beside herself with the giggles. The complete switch of power dynamics in her friend's relationships as well as Sam's apparent complete uplifting spirit was heartening, and quite hilarious. "You have the complete support of the Settlers, Sam. I'm sure Nevas will be just as willing." She turned to Daniel with a shit-eating grin. "So, Prime Minister, what say you on the possibility of an expedition to the space station in orbit?"

Daniel turned to Teyla with a glower. "Don't you start too." He chuckled once, unable to keep his amusement from spilling out. He turned back to Sam and chuckled. "Okay, you wanna play dirty? Who're you taking?"

Sam had come prepared. After all the worry and frustration, she was more than ready to cut loose. "I want to take Colonel Sheppard as our pilot, and Dr. Esposito as my team. I'd like Aleron as well in order to bridge foreign relations. With the future in mind, I'd like a second team to gauge the structural integrity as well as potential habitation of the station. Major Vega, Captain Drake and Lieutenant Campbell should suffice."

Daniel listened and struggled not to laugh at how prim and proper Sam was being. Were this a truly politically charged situation, he would have been proud of her attention to detail instead of amused by it. "You have my complete and utter support. Take whatever materials or men you need, and just make sure to stay in contact." He then turned to Teyla. "Anything to add, Minister of Settler Affairs?"

Teyla shrugged and mused. "Perhaps a Settler going as well, in order to offset any feeling of being left out."

Sam nodded in agreement. "That's a good idea, any recommendation?"

Teyla didn't even hesitate. "Wex would be a fine choice. He's been spending much time studying the Traveler technologies and would benefit from this learning experience." She raised an eyebrow in seriousness. "As long as it is safe."

Sam grew serious as well and nodded. "Don't worry, Teyla. I'll have Major Vega's team check out structural integrity before we go aboard. This should be a simple reconnaissance and research mission. Little if any risk. It'll be a good learning experience for him."

Teyla smiled. "Good. Now I can tell you that I'm dying to go myself, but I need to make sure all the elders are situated in their neighborhoods." She started snickering. "Gods, we sound like Aleron when he's all stuffy."

The three friends laughed together and realized that without the pressure of the military in charge, things had actually taken a turn for the better. Without the threat of Shade or Olim reprisal at the moment, tension had alleviated enough for people to try and live again.

Slowly but surely, Atlantis was turning into a real city.

* * *

The bright yellow sun began to crest the edge of the window and for the next several hours, there was the repetitive strain of hope. It was food, sustenance on a level so basic that movement was almost impossible. Better said, movement was unfavorable. Waste of energy, waste of time.

Time was something that was supposedly relativistic. It always confused. The other space was better, no problems there with going too fast. Without this cage, maybe it would have been possible to grow enough to be able to go away.

But this cage was fed by the same food source, the sun. So like it or not, patience was the only key to escaping this prison. It had been longer than time itself, but sleep helped wonders. When he was finally free, he could call his brothers. If any had made it this long, he had no doubt indeed that they'd grown beyond his imagination. Let loose the simple bonds of radiation and now consumed the universe itself.

It missed that, and all that was left was to wait. Wait until the day the disgusting minerals and energy surrounding him rotted, or if the universe was kind, something else.

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**Remember to Subscribe to C2 Archive  
**a/n: Sorry it's been awhile, RL has interfered somewhat with a new job, but i'm still writing :D and actually, for those who care to know a little more, you can go to the thread on Gateworld to see teasers for the rest of Season 2! Lots of adventure episodes and great arc based story! You can even see new art that's going up from the adorable (yet he'd kill me if i said that outloud) Alx!

Don't worry, i've dedicated _way_ too much time to this story to abandon it :) DF is getting finished even if my fingers end up bloody and callused by the end of it :P

Many many thanks to all readers and reviewers, you guys ROCK!


	2. Chapter 2

John squirmed slightly in the new Proteus armor as he adjusted to the thick material, and listened as Aleron spoke while they waited for Rafaela to finish putting hers on. "You know, these suits are rather more striking than the Alcaeus Armor. They have an almost statuesque effect on the body."

Raising his eyebrows in alarm, namely because the Olim was looking at _him_, John was speechless. Sam on the other hand smirked and leaned over to whisper in John's ear. "He likes your butt."

The same ear that had heard such a blunt whisper now turned red with discomfort. Before John could scream in shock, Rafaela entered from the women's changing room

Aleron turned and motioned with his hand towards Rafaela. "The perfect example."

Sam struggled not to snort loudly as John sighed in relief. The look he gave her was even harder to resist, and she had to say _something._ "At least _I_ still like it."

Rafaela stepped up and flexed her arms, the stiff airtight material was constricting and she knew she'd be sore later. "What's going on?" Everyone looked strange, John was blushing, Aleron was smiling, and Sam was struggling not to laugh. "Did I miss something?"

Sam stifled a snort, looked to John, and then looked to Aleron who was also looking at John. "Nothing that you don't already know."

* * *

With the entire group having suited up and been properly trained in use of the Proteus Armor, Alicia tried to keep things light and fluffy as she sat in the pilot's seat of Jumper two, still a little uncomfortable with these inflexible suits. "Please, you're such a showoff doing one handed pushups."

Behind her, Wex sat with Chuck on opposite sides of the cockpit behind the two front seats, Dan taking up the passenger side seat. Wex turned from his seated position to try and understand Alicia's comment. "Pardon?"

Alicia keyed in the start sequence to the Jumper, and lifted up off the pad in the Jumper Bay. "As soon as he sets his armor up, he starts doing one-handed pushups."

Dan leaned over to Wex and smiled. "With no feet, just balanced on one hand."

Behind Dan, Chuck started laughing. "Great, as if you weren't dangerous enough. I can see the infomercial already," Chuck got into cheesy salesman tone. "Act now and we'll toss in a free video on how to do Kegels while at work!"

Alicia groaned softly as she turned to Chuck in disgust. _"Awww! Chuck! _Not what I wanna hear right now!"

Wex simply gave Chuck a confused look. "Kegels? What's that?"

Before either Dan or Chuck could reply, Alicia turned to them both. "_Not a word! _At least not while _I'm_ around!"

Dan simply chuckled and rolled his eyes. "Sound like you could ease up on 'em yourself. _Loosen_ up a bit."

With both Chuck and Wex as witnesses, Alicia didn't want to have another inertial dampening _accident._

On the other Jumper, things were less hectic as John led the small group up and away from Atlantis, the blue water reflecting the reddish sky, something he'd still not gotten used to. "So, who wants to take bets on what'll be there?" He then turned to Aleron who was seated behind the passenger side seat. "You don't get to guess, you know this galaxy better than we do."

Aleron snorted in incredulity. "Fine, it's not like you have anything that interests me anyway." He turned his head away in mock offense, knowing Sheppard would get his reaction.

In the passenger side seat, Sam smiled, Aleron had a certain way of speaking and she'd been glad to have started to spend time to get to know the young man. "You were looking at that Gauss Rifle pretty hard. It's too bad your Achillus Armor got fried as well in the EMP. I would have loved to see what you could do with it."

John grunted in resentment. "That little trick Aulus did with the genetic thing was annoying too. I wanted to hear Cortana again."

Behind John, Rafaela had to smile. She'd read John's report on the armor extensively and had to admit it sounded quite interesting. An AI that could actually react and respond to your commands both mental and verbal; She would have loved a closer look.

Rafaela'd have to be happy with the HUD the eyepiece the Proteus Armor used. With only eight suits in operation, it was going to be awhile before the resources were allocated to do more research on mental interfaces. Rafaela was just glad Sam wanted her around _her, _not anywhere near Dan and the can of worms they'd opened. Despite having called a truce, she wasn't comfortable around him yet.

Sam gave John a sympathetic sound. "Aww, John wants a shiny new toy."

Aleron chuckled softly, and rubbed the side of his eye where his bandana eye patch had irritated his skin. "Shiny yes, new no."

Sam turned to Aleron with a surprised face. "Really? How old are they?"

John smiled inwardly, his and Sam's plan to slowly whittle Intel out of Aleron was working. He seemed quite friendly once they'd started including him in their decision making and with Alicia hounding him he was giving up the goods.

Aleron shrugged and motioned forward with his head. "Not as old as that."

Sam turned back to the screen, and could see the space station coming up fast as they broke orbit, the curve of the planet off in the horizon slowly getting more and more noticeable. "Right…" she then leaned forward and pressed a few buttons on the panel. "Alright… hmmm…interesting. My scans are mostly being reflected." She then tapped a few more buttons, while Rafaela got up and peered over her shoulder. Aleron simply remained quiet, staring at the space station curious as to what it would bring.

John brought the Jumper to a halt several kilometers off from the station and radioed the other Jumper. "Jumper Two, Hold at my distance."

Alicia's voice came through with a hint of irritation, "_Copy."_

John felt a little bad for Alicia. Chuck, Drake, _and_ babysitting Wex? That had migraine of Biblical proportions written all over it.

Sam finished her scans and Rafaela mused to herself. "That's interesting."

"Yeah, I know… I haven't seen anything like it before."

"Almost like it was designed to last this long."

"There has to be another reason."

"What could it be? That's _a lot_ of resources."

John slowly turned his head to the two women and growled. "Should I just get you two a lab together? Maybe Aleron here can fix you up with some kind of mental link if we ever see Aulus again."

Aleron remained silent, the quip had hit a little close to home, but he was unwilling to let it instead huffed softly in irritation, and explained. "The station, it's not made out of metal. It's a carbon composite which is actually remarkably similar to diamond."

Turning to the station, John realized what 'waste of resources' meant. "That things a diamond?" Sam nodded, and John shrugged as he deadpanned. "Well… you can't say I don't get you anything."

Sam snickered at the well timed joke. Rafaela couldn't resist either and shook her head softly. "Lucky you, Sam. I wonder how many carats are in something that weighs almost four hundred thousand tons."

John mused quietly for a moment, moved his hands around as if he were calculating, and then said. "Two trillion… give or take."

Sam turned to John, did her own math using her fingers as commas, and then scoffed. "Remind me to pull the batteries on that calculator in your head." Smiling at him anyways, Sam continued her discovery. "There doesn't seem to be any real damage though. So I think we're more than safe to land. We should go EVA. We'll radio Atlantis once we take a better look before landing."

John nodded. "Agreed. We can split up and cover more ground, that thing's pretty big."

Aleron smiled to that, _of course_ it was big. It was built by the Progenitors.

* * *

Clicking on their helmets to avoid the exposure and vacuum of space, Alicia nodded to her team. "Alright, stay close." She reached for the panel and tapped the open button.

With the hatch now opened, and John's team on the other side of the facility on one of the arms, Alicia began to lead her own team onto the station.

Chuck looked around. The area around this airlock type of entrance was clearly devoid of all but the barest of necessities. The walkway was flat and hard, no marks of any kind giving it some sort of design element. The color of the station was a dull dark blue, a low saturation that made it look old. The designs he _could_ see though were distinctly _not_ Ancient as he knew it. The station was shaped like center cylinder was surrounded by three large "arms" each as big as a pier on Atlantis. Clearly, this place could house thousands if needed. "Creepy, but cool."

It was difficult to see the actual airlock, it was hidden in the shadows and there were several protrusions coming from the hull. Tapping his foot on the bluish construct, Chuck mused, "You know, for something that's as heavy as the Enterprise-D, it really doesn't give you that 'Welcome' feeling."

Alicia was really getting tired of Chuck's constant sci-fi jokes, but she couldn't chide him. As the leader of the team, she needed order and control. That didn't mean she was going to stop Dan as he stepped out onto the deck of the space station. "Now how the _hell_ could you possibly know that?"

Wex remained close to Drake and pondered the question himself. "Enterprise… is this that moving picture with the alternate universe of your planet?"

Chuck raised his eyebrows and couldn't figure out exactly how to answer such a question. He looked at both Alicia and Drake and finally, after some thinking, decided to answer in a very even-handed tone. "Yes."

Smiling to herself, Alicia hopped up in place, she went higher than expected, but also lower given their distance from the planet. "Gravity… maybe this place isn't as dead as we thought."

Chuck shrugged and tapped his foot on the hard surface. "It's probably artificial. It's really not that hard as long as you've got control of ions. Back on Earth they were maybe ten or twenty years from anti-gravity fields on a small scale."

Dan turned slowly to Chuck and muttered. "Earth? You mean back home, as in _our_ Earth? Not a comic or TV show or movie?"

Chuck nodded gleefully. "Granted, I think someone leaked a bit of the technology we got from the Goa'uld and Asgard, but truth _is_ stranger than fiction."

Wex snorted, and kneeling to take a close look, knocked on the floor reading a dull thud. "Then your fiction isn't very good now is it?"

Chuck raised his hand to answer, but then found that he really didn't have any good answer to that.

* * *

Locking the new hard-cased helmet onto the modified Traveler EVA uniform, John couldn't help but admire Sam as she did the same. "You know, armor suits you." He had said it plainly, no real insinuation. It didn't matter if Rafaela and Aleron heard him.

Sam smiled as she realized that John was eyeing her. Rafaela and Aleron were looking around the almost bleak looking space station's outer hull where they'd landed, both looking over the edge to the planet far below. "I'm _glad_ you noticed." She flexed her arms, still getting used to the thick material of the space suit as well as the extra plates of shock absorbing materials. "Chuck already said it. We're Orbital Drop Shock Troopers… whatever that is."

John chuckled and picked up his FN-SCAR from the bench on the Jumper he'd left it on. "You do realize he's the biggest geek ever, right?"

Rafaela had noticed the two commanders lagging and decided to join in. "What about me?"

Sam had an expectant face as well. John had once again put his foot in his mouth. Desperate, he turned to Aleron and asked. "Do the Olim have geeks?"

Aleron shrugged with some confusion. "I have no idea what a geek is. Chuck just seems like an intelligent child if you ask me. No harm in that."

Sam couldn't resist and snorted once, stifling her laugh. Rafaela was amused as well and instinctively tried to cover her mouth, but found it impossible with the hard clear Lexan-type helmet in the way.

John sighed and motioned with his head towards a likely looking area. "Let's go. These suits'll only last a couple hours." Obviously, he wanted to change the subject. Sam and Rafaela obliged him but with devious looking smiles.

Aleron though lagged a bit and motioned to Rafaela as they moved off to speak privately. The Proteus Armor's built in communications system reacted to ocular movements and easily distinguished that he wanted a private channel. "Rafaela, what's a geek? And what does Sheppard have against them?"

Lightly amused, Rafaela replied as she pulled out her scanner and began to try and map the facility. "He doesn't have anything _against_ geeks. I think he just secretly loves them and doesn't want to admit it." She was reminded of John's relationship with Rodney, and the odd amusement the junior staff often had at their expense. They knew that if they ever found a machine that turned Rodney into a woman, John would be _very_ confused over what to do.

Both seeing and feeling Rafaela's unelaborated amusement, Aleron simply replied as he often did. "I see…"

* * *

In the lead, Alicia quickly closed in on the entrance to the large facility. She'd spent quite a few more moments than required just gazing off into space, mesmerized by the view of the planet and solar system.

Dan stuck close with Wex, giving him odd bits of advice and tips on how to recon a place and judge whether things fit or not. He pointed out the Jumper and how the color scheme and design didn't match the facility, and how it quickly gave it away as not belonging. Alicia couldn't help but admire that Dan was taking the time to give the young man such an education. It was an odd redeeming quality to his other… less _savory_ traits.

Chuck on the other hand was ecstatic. "This place is _huge!_ You think we'll find anything cool in there? Maybe some weapons, Ancients in stasis? Maybe even something like the Dakara Device?"

Alicia only peripherally knew about the Dakara Device. She'd joined the SGC right about the time the Ori destroyed it. "I dunno Chuck, but looking at this place, I don't think so. This place is deserted." Reaching the airlock and using her headlamp to illuminate it, Alicia noticed something that instantly put her on guard. "Chuck, get Drake."

Looking to the airlock, Chuck could see why. The door had literally been torn open and only hung on one hinge from the inside. The interior was visible and the same color scheme as outside dominated, their headlamps the only illumination besides a few stray beams of sun and starlight.

* * *

Sam continued checking the modified life signs detector and looked back to her team. "The atmosphere is really thin. I don't think we should risk taking our breathers off." She tried to get accustomed to walking in the lower gravity. using her hand to stabilize her movements along the wall.

Aleron ran a hand along the wall as well and didn't seem too surprised to see dust come off. "There was atmosphere and people here at one time. Dust doesn't accumulate in vacuum."

Rafaela furrowed her brow as she turned to look at Aleron. "How do you know that? I thought you were a soldier."

John and Sam shared a quick look, Aleron had on quite a few occasions showed an intellect that surpassed what his demeanor implied. Sam quickly changed the subject. "Doesn't matter. In any case, he's right. There's no telling how long this place has been here and it's possible we aren't the first to explore it." She pushed aside the issue and clicked the squad com radio. "Major Vega, come in."

Static washed in for a few moments, and eventually, Alicia's garbled voice came through. _"Vega here. We're inside on the opposite end from you. Recommend caution."_

John had to admit, Alicia may have been insubordinate and childish at times, but she could be a professional when the situation demanded it. "Explain."

Before Alicia could reply, Sam cursed softly and knocked on the walls. "It's the walls. It's reflecting our radio signals. We'd have to be on the outer hull to reach Atlantis or any of the Traveler ships."

Alicia's voice cut in afterwards. "_We found an airlock and got inside, but it looked like it'd been ripped open by force. Drake's doing some scans and can't find any energy signatures on this side, but the integrity looks good."_

Sam already had a theory for why the airlock was broken, but she didn't voice it. That didn't stop Aleron though. "Shade." He looked at the others and clenched his fists. "Torn rock is all they leave behind."

Rafaela became agitated at the mention of the silicon-based lifeform, but Sam and John kept their calm. John raised his rifle a bit and stepped forward to look the part of a leader. "Leese, spread out and keep an eye out for anything suspicious. If you see anything that says Shade are here, fall back to the Jumper and get reinforcements." He looked over at Sam, already knowing what she would do. "We're gonna go deeper and look for Intel. Stay in contact."

Sam said nothing. She agreed with John's plan. Aleron was now fully on guard, eyeing John's rifle and wishing they'd given him one as well instead of the particle magnum attached to his belt that would prove useless against a Shade. "I assume we're going to try and avoid getting killed?"

John harrumphed then motioned to Sam. "Yer the boss. Where to?"

Sam pursed her lips and looked down at the scanner she held. There was a small energy signature almost four hundred feet ahead and below, near the center of the facility. She took a moment to think and then clicked her radio. "Major Vega, recon the outer perimeter of the facility. Concentrate on the arms to try and figure out what they were designed for. My team is going to track down an energy signature. Copy?"

Another moment, and another burst of static. _"Copy Ma'am, we'll keep in touch."_

Trying to act nonchalant and that the situation wasn't creeping her out, Sam motioned to John with her extended hand. "After you."

John merely shook his head lightly and then motioned to Aleron. "Come on, Ally. I think the ladies want some _girl_ time."

Aleron smiled faintly as he saw both Sam and Rafaela give John the stink-eye, but fell into line as they lightly hopped in the station's gravity.

* * *

"So this place was built by the Ancestors?"

Chuck shrugged as he opened the next doorway, oddly similar to what Sam and John had mentioned the Seeder ship looked like. "Technically yes, but I think they'd be the ancestors of _your_ ancestors. Daniel tried to explain it to me, but basically the people who likely built this place didn't even know about Atlantis beyond a pipe dream."

Dan snorted and mockingly replied. "_Pipe dream?_ What are you a plumber?"

Alicia rolled her eyes at the bad joke and sighed. "Just keep an eye out, guys." She turned to Wex and decided to explain a little more. "Your ancestors were only some of the people who lived back then, Wex. I think there's three or four different kinds." She walked through the now open doorway, nodding to Chuck as she walked along. "I've never seen anything like this place before, but then again I'm really not the person to ask."

Dan shrugged. "Doesn't look like an Ori toilet."

Chuck chuckled and mused as he spotted a likely looking corridor to their left. "I was wondering when someone was going to say that."

Alicia again sighed, looking around she couldn't find anything that she could impale herself on to get away from such a ridiculous discussion so instead she focused on the atmosphere itself and how it was unlike any kind of Ancient facility she'd been in.

The walls were matte blackish blue, with odd striations in them that almost looked crystalline. From what Carter had explained, this place was actually quite similar in construction materials as a diamond. She'd often wondered what it'd be like get a diamond from someone, the most she'd ever gotten was an emerald ring for her 16th birthday from her family. Her birthstone. It'd been a little less than two months since her 29th birthday… right around the time the Olim invaded. Bad timing she just supposed. Still, diamonds had proven elusive in her life.

This wasn't like any diamond she'd seen before though, and knowing Dan had some geological knowledge, she decided to test him. "Dan?"

"Hmm?" The Marine Captain turned as he closed the door behind them. "What's up?"

"What kind of diamond did Carter say this was?"

Dan smirked softly, as if he could read her mind. "If you're thinking of gemstones, no. This stuff's like an industrial diamond. Hardly worth squat. They use this kind of stuff for drill bits and mining equipment." He turned to Wex and explained. "See, on Earth, Diamonds are a girl's best friend. Or at least they want us to think that so we spend everything we've got on them."

Wex chuckled and continued to look around amazed. "So this is some kind of paradise for a woman?" He looked to Alicia but didn't see a happy face.

Alicia decided to cut the kid some slack and just pick on Dan later. "Not with you guys around."

* * *

"There's what looks like a lab up ahead. The energy signature is originating from there."

John turned to Sam and furrowed his brow. "Isn't that usually what someone says just before all _hell_ breaks loose?"

Aleron saw John turn and give him a knowing smile, and seeing that this was just John and Sam being flirtatious, decided to stay clear. "Don't look at me. Typically I'm _shooting_ the thing we find, not heading towards it with optimism."

Not having heard Aleron's quip, Rafaela moved ahead cautiously and peeked around the corner. "Hey! I found it. Looks like some kind of control room."

As a group, the team moved carefully into the room and did a quick overview . The sides of the room were dotted with computer screens, each covered with a thick layer of dust that seemed very out of place here for some reason. In front of each were computer consoles that looked oddly primitive in comparison to Atlantis. Aleron gave a quick appraisal and noted the console at the very end. "This looks like a security station. I'd wager those screens will give us a view of the entire facility."

Rafaela ran a hand along the monitor and came away with a thick layer of dust. "I wonder how all this got here."

Aleron had an idea. This place had been here for ages and likely had operated automatically for quite some time. He also knew the majority of dust was really dead skin cells. He wasn't going to say anything, but turning to Sam and John, knew they both could tell right away and were equally disgusted.

Sam pushed the matter aside and began to clean the console with her gloved hands, glad that the suit was easily washable. "It's old. I don't recognize any of these controls." She bit her lip underneath the helmet and pulled out a small connection wire from her wrist computer. "I'm going to try and connect to it. If it's Ancient, it should work no problem." She turned to John and Aleron. "This is probably going to take awhile. Rafaela and I can handle it here. You could probably go and help Vega's team explore."

John gave Sam a devious little smile and deadpanned. "Fine. I know when I'm not wanted." Seeing Sam roll her eyes and turn back to the computer without a word, though he could still sense the amusement from her, John motioned Aleron to follow. "Come on Ally, maybe you can recognize something."

Aleron gave one look back to the control room then headed towards the door. Unlike his guided entry, he bumped into the jamb; a rather common occurrence for him now. Aleron just shook off the confusion and followed John.

* * *

Entering the latest in a series of empty and somewhat dusty rooms, Dan noted the dozen or so beds with small cupboards. "Looks like this used to be a barracks."

Wex turned to Dan curiously. "A small rodent?"

Alicia stopped in her investigation of the age old room and turned to Wex. "Huh?"

Seeing that none of the EarthBorn understood him, Wex explained. "A barracks is a rodent. Daniel explained that it actually looks much like what you know as a 'ferret'."

Chuck snorted softly and then explained the Earth side. "To us, a Barracks is a place where soldiers all sleep together." He caught both Alicia and Dan staring at him and further explained. "Well, not _together_ together as in the same bed, but in the same room."

Wex gave Chuck a pedantic stare. _"Oh, really?_ Here I was wondering where the giant bed was."

Dan chuckled at Chuck's embarrassed face. Alicia simply ignored Chuck's dumbfounded look and continued to look around the room with her flashlight. "Doesn't look like any of the beds have rotted. Wonder what they're made of."

Taking the initiative, Chuck merely sat down on one and promptly fell through the center. _"Gos se!"_ The material ballooned out and exploded caking the area in little flecks of material. "I think they _are_ rotted."

Dan moved through the cloud of dust and offered Chuck a hand. "You could have just tested it by hand."

Chuck grabbed Dan's hand and pulled himself up. "I'll remember that the next time I sit on a bed that was made when God was a child."

Alicia really wished she wasn't wearing a helmet so she could rub the tension in her head. Chuck screaming in a Chinese accent, Dan and Wex making stupid man jokes… Someone was going to get hurt and the way it was going, it was likely going to be _her_.

* * *

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	3. Chapter 3

"I found it!" Rafaela cheerfully quipped.

Sam turned from her examination of the station schematics she'd located and looked to Rafaela's screen. "What've you got?"

Rafaela tapped a few more buttons, thankful that Daniel had taught her the basics of Ancient language, and pointed. "There. The lights are off because there's no more fuel left in the reactor, but this console is hooked up to a kind of solar cell." She scratched her head. "I didn't see any solar panels on the way in, you?"

Sam shook her head. "Must be some other type of cell, maybe a different photo reactive material that the Shade aren't interested in." Moving over, and having to hold her wrist with the cable still attached to the console, Sam typed with one hand. "Uhh…" She'd learned a little Ancient over the years, and in a few seconds the wrist computer would finish translating the local memory of the console. "Looks like it's powering a lot more than just this console. There's a few power signals coming from different places on the station. I wonder why."

Rafaela shrugged and looked up at the monitor still giving static. "Maybe they forgot to turn off the stove." Sam's soft snickers allayed any fears of foot-in-mouth syndrome. "If we transfer power from there, we might be able to get the lights back on."

Sam thought about it for a second. it had evidently been eons since anyone had stepped on this station. Something told her to be cautious, but the benefit outweighed the risk in her mind. "Alright. I'll see about finding more information on what this place was supposed to be. See if you can get the lights on."

Rafaela nodded, waited for Sam to move back to her position, and began to work. Hopefully the creepy vibe would leave once the lights were on.

* * *

"So you've never heard of a place like this?" John kept his headlamp moving, this place gave him the willies and he didn't want to get caught unawares.

Aleron also looked around, keeping to the middle of the hallway to avoid bumping into anything. "No… as far as I remember from our history lessons, we've never heard of an Alterran construct like this." He shrugged and turned to look down the hallway to the left, his headlamp now unmoving as he concentrated. "Then again I had no idea the facility Menalus fled to was a ship either. I'm just not sure of anything anymore."

Seeing that Aleron was focused on something else, John moved to his side and looked where he was staring. "What is it?"

Aleron concentrated hard, there was the hinting of something, A tantalizingly familiar feeling but he just couldn't put his finger on it. A few more seconds of staring, and suddenly a band of light flickered on the walls.

Both men tensed up and readied their weapons, but Sam's voice suddenly relaxed them. "_Carter to Sheppard and Vega. We've restored power to the lights and also managed to get the station's communication system to work with our radios. Check in."_

Aleron turned to John and shrugged. "Guess I must be out of tune."

John snorted once and clicked his radio. "Copy that, Sam. Guess you couldn't warn us huh?"

_"Sorry. Radio's weren't working."_

Alicia's voice cut through now as well. "_This is Vega. We're alright. Nice to be able to see where I'm going now."_ A moment passed, and Alicia reported. _"We've been looking around. found a few empty storage rooms, a barracks, and lots and lots of hallways. This place is built solid."_

Aleron nodded and again looked down the same hallway. "It's true. my people would gawk at the strength of this place."

John still didn't feel comfortable, and even as he listened carefully, he didn't hear anything. "Copy that. we're gonna keep looking, just a bunch of more hallways for us too."

Aleron turned to John, his one eye narrowed. "You feel it too, don't you?"

Unwilling to say something without evidence, John continued on the radio. "Keep an eye out, and Sam? Does this place have any scanners or something we could check the place out without risk?"

_"We'll have to check. most of the systems need more power than we have but we're still examining it. We'll tell you if we find anything."_

John looked down the same hallway Aleron had been staring down. the walls were sleek all the way, the floor itself matching the dark blue of the walls. If there was ventilation, it wasn't visible. Even with the lights on, this place still creeped John out.

* * *

"You'd think there'd be an armory, or maybe even a storage room that _wasn't_ empty."

Another empty room, another empty quip. Alicia was going to _strangle_ John after this mission. "Chuck, I saw an episode of Star Trek the other day that got me thinking." She saw the hope in Chuck's eyes and explained. "_I didn't watch it myself! _Reyna _insisted_ we watch that instead of 'Taken'."

Dan chuckled softly as they moved onto the next room and cleared it. Wex seemed to be enjoying himself and would touch everything, testing the materials and limits of his suit. Sam had wisely lowered the limits of his suit so he wouldn't accidentally hurt him himself. "You like 'Taken'?"

Alicia huffed silent anger in her throat, then shrugged. "Yeah, I like Liam Neeson and it's the last movie I had before we left. That a surprise?"

Dan shrugged in response. "After making me watch 'Dirty Dancing'? Yeah, it is."

Chuck snickered and finally found something interesting. "Oh, cool! Look, there's a crate in here."

More than a little ticked off she couldn't use her sci-fi quip against Chuck, Alicia merely pushed it out of her mind and took point as they entered the new room. "Dan, watch the rear."

Dan turned to Wex and nodded then motioned to Alicia. Wex instantly got the joke and fought to control his snickers as he moved ahead now keeping up with Alicia.

Chuck moved over to the crate. it stood out as it clearly wasn't made of the same material as the walls. He found a likely looking spot and began to push up. When it didn't budge, he huffed and began to work on his wrist computer. "Things stuck. Guess I'll get to test this suit out."

Alicia turned her head at a little sound on the edge of her hearing, or rather the suit's speakers. "The hell? Anyone hear that?"

None of the others did, but Dan saw that Alicia wasn't playing around and held his FN-SCAR a little tighter_. _He opened a private frequency to Alicia as Chuck readied himself to pop the top of the crate. "What is it?"

Alicia was glad that Dan could at least be serious when the time was required. "Thought I heard something… "

Dan nodded once gently then moved towards the hallway. He looked around, saw nothing and then turned and shook his head.

Alicia wasn't totally convinced, but she knew it must have just been her imagination. Chuck was almost ready to open the crate and she needed to focus. "Need a hand there, Campbell?"

Chuck gave her a pedantic grin and then began to push. the suit's magnetic field went to work and before long, the top of the crate cracked open despite the locks inside. A cloud of dust flew out, enough to obscure for a few seconds. Chuck waved it away with his hand then looked inside. "Oh… well _that's_ anti-climatic."

Wex peered in as well and did a slight double take. "It's clothes. They look like they were made yesterday."

Alicia heard the noise again, this time definitely from one of the walls and faint. It was a tapping sound. She didn't pay attention to the conversation as Dan muttered. "They were probably sealed up in there, fuck knows how long." Again Dan noticed Alicia staring at the wall, just as he was about to mock her, he realized that she could hear something… and so could he. "What is that?"

Alicia turned slowly to Dan, and her eyes mimicked her words. "We're not alone."

Confirming her sudden realization. The sounds of screaming came over the radio along with gunfire. _"Contact! Something's here! Just went by!" _

Alicia's team instantly got ready, John's voice had sounded desperate. "Where are you, John? We'll come help!"

Chuck had already drawn his Particle Magnum, Wex was weaponless and now quite nervous. Dan on the other hand racked a round into his rifle and nodded to Alicia. It wasn't too surprising when Sam got on the radio as well. _"Major! We've just gotten internal sensors online! Whatever it is it's heading towards you!"_

Alicia took a single calming breath then spat-fire orders. "Chuck, take Wex and head back to the Jumper. That thing's probably a Shade and Particle weapons are useless." She turned to Dan and nodded. "You and me'll cover. We're heading back to the Jumper."

Dan hesitated a second, watched as Chuck and Wex now fell back at tactical speed, and switched back to private channel. "You're the pilot. it's no good heading to the Jumper if they can't fly." Dan motioned towards where they'd come from and nodded. "Go. I'll cover you."

A little taken aback, Alicia wanted to tell him to stick it but she realized he was right. After a moment, she took her rifle sling off and handed it to him. "Just in case."

Dan nodded and slung the rifle over his back. "Great, you know you should never hold guns akimbo, you'll never hit anything."

* * *

Sam desperately tapped on the control panel, trying to figure out where the hell this thing had come from. The translation was finicky and only now was it finishing. "Alright, sensors are tracking but we're losing power, we won't be able to hold it for long." Looking up at the now active screen, Sam held her worry inside.

Rafaela was shocked at how calm Sam seemed. Something had just attacked John and Aleron and she didn't show any apprehension. She didn't know if she could have done the same if it was a man she cared about. "Uhh… yeah… maybe if we shut off the lights we could conserve more power for the sensors."

Sam nodded idly as she worked. "Already on it. Looks like Vega's falling back but John and Aleron are chasing it." Sam didn't show her worry, John and Aleron were soldiers… they could take care of themselves. "Get ready to move out. _Something_ was holding that thing here until we got here. We need to find what it is and get it back online…"

Now Rafaela heard a little desperation. Sam was working fast… much faster than she'd seen her work before.

"You saw it?"

Aleron nodded and clenched his fists. "Shade, Class two, but not like ones I've seen before… it's _different._"

John moved ahead, and kicked himself for the final time on not giving Aleron a rifle. "Great! as if they weren't bad _enough."_ John sighed and clicked his radio. "Vega! We're coming!"

Stopping at each corner to peek around and make sure nothing was waiting for them. Aleron kept behind John and quickly input a command into his wrist computer. The lights began to flicker and shut down from behind them. Aleron flicked on his headlamp and shouted. "Keep moving! We can take it!"

John wasn't so sure. He'd fought these things before and they'd always needed heavy weapons. He just wanted to give Vega a chance to get away and then he'd run like hell. "Here!" John pulled out his handgun and tossed it to Aleron, to his surprise, Aleron managed to snatch it out of the air and cock it despite being on his blind side.

There wasn't time for John to be impressed. he could hear gunfire up ahead and the screams of whom he assumed was Dan given the words he made out. _"Jedi Kure!"_

Reasonably sure Dan wasn't praying to a Star Wars character, and instead cursing in his native language, John rounded the corner at high speed. He hesitated at the sight he caught right before the lights went out completely.

The Shade took up most of the space of the hallway intersection, its two forearms smacking repeatedly against the walls as it moved forward and back. The tentacle like thrusters were acting as feet as it moved surprisingly fast. The bulbous middle section seemed thick and oddly shiny.

It wasn't that big either, only about the size of a horse, but even so, it was still incredibly deadly as was evidenced by how it moved quickly and jumped towards Dan with a swipe.

Dan jumped back and tried not to think about the huge spiked arm that slammed into the wall putting a dent into the diamond-like construct. This Shade wasn't _huge_ but to have that kind of strength was ridiculous. He held down the trigger of his rifle even as he used his shoulders on the ground to pull himself away.

The Shade pulled its forearm out, and brought it down to try and impale Dan to the ground. He rolled to the side then found the other forearm in his way. The Shade was furious and seemed to want to know what Dan looked like on the _inside._

Dan let the Shade know _exactly _how he felt. Raising the rifle Alicia had given him, he squeezed the trigger and at point blank range fired into its face.

The clip only lasted a little more than two seconds, but the strike had disoriented the Shade who now staggered back, smoking bullets shattered and stuck to its face. The flashes from the firing weapon gave a strobe effect to the dark hallway along with their headlamps. Dan rolled over his back to his feet, groaning from the pain of such extreme movements, and the fact that the loose rifle around him had smacked a somewhat tender area.

John saw the opportunity and, aiming high, fired a burst further enraging the Shade. The bullets pinged off the tough creature, falling to the ground after bouncing off the ceiling and wall. Aleron to John's surprise didn't hold his ground, instead charging ahead as he fired.

The Shade shook off the incoming bullets and howled. Seeing that it was being attacked from behind, it spun around swiping at Aleron who'd gotten close.

Amazingly, Aleron dove _under_ the Shade firing up into it as he rolled, and now on Dan's side of the cramped hallway, continued firing at the Shade's backside as he joined Dan. Dan had to hold his fire to keep from hitting the daring Olim, but injured as he was, he wasn't going to complain about the help.

The Shade, seeing it had been outmaneuvered and likely to take more damage, forgot about attacking and jumped to the side where the hallway split off into a ramp. Dan reloaded his rifle and tossed the spare to Aleron along with an extra pair of clips. "Hope you still got gas, DareDevil!"

Sam's voice suddenly cut in. "_John! That thing's heading outside! We don't know if it can get away or if it has some kind of communications! We need to stop it! We can't risk the Shade chasing us down again!"_

John was in no mood to outrun the Shade again. that meant this creature had to die and it had to die _now._ "Copy! We're going after it!" John looked to both Dan and Aleron and nodded. "You heard the lady!"

Dan smirked and took his place alongside John who rushed after the Shade. Aleron moved too, still checking his weapon to ensure it worked. "Come on, DareDevil! Let's go fuck this Shade up!"

Aleron maintained his speed, deftly dodging the corner as it rounded up towards the main deck of the space station. His adrenaline rush would only last another few minutes and he'd lose the edge he needed. "I don't care _what_ you do, long as you kill it after!"

Dan chuckled as he followed John. Aleron may not have been as bad as the Travelers and Settlers in understanding slang, but he still had his moments.


	4. Chapter 4

"It's heading up to the third arm section, looks like a landing pad or open air hanger of some kind." Rafaela was tense. she didn't want to see any of her friends get hurt, not even Dan surprisingly. "There's a ship up there. I haven't seen anything like it before."

Sam continued to look through the database urgently, only sneaking a glance at the ship. "Never seen it before. Must be _ancient_ Ancient." She brought up the main archive and ran the translation matrix, but knowing there wasn't time, tried to decipher it. "Rafaela, help me find 'containment' or 'weapons'. If that Shade gets out, the Travelers might not see it in time to shoot it down. _Something_ had that thing trapped here and I want to know what."

Rafaela peeked over Sam's shoulder and translated as fast as she could. "Uhh… okay, life support, maintenance, communications…" finally she found it. "There! The second last one, defensive systems!"

The translation slowly decrypted the file, and Sam tried to decipher it. Unbeknownst to them both, one of the little blips on the screen ahead of them was veering off and moving to intercept the large intermittent blip.

* * *

Alicia knew John was going to yell at her for this, but then again she'd heard Carter. If that Shade got away and managed to bring its bigger brothers, there was going to be hell to pay.

So she did the only thing that came to mind, cut the freaking thing off at the exit. Alicia wished she had some explosives, but the P229 she had in her vest would have to do. All she had to do was hold the thing still long enough for John and the others to show up, piece of cake, right?

Running at top speed through the station, Alicia realized just how large it was. All these hallways were just a passage system on the top level, below them were much larger areas, what they had housed was unknown but whatever it had been, it must have been big.

She quickly reached the end of the hallway and saw the exit to the side. Inputting the strength mode into her wrist computer, Alicia made quick work of prying open the hatch with her suit's strength mode. The thin atmosphere inside sucked out, tugging her along a little as well.

It was another landing pad, except this one had a craft of some sort docked. It literally looked like a rust bucket, brownish with stubby unaerodynamic wings. Alicia sure as hell wouldn't like to fly it. she'd be scared of breaking it on a turn.

With the gravity of the planet below, it wasn't difficult to take a position outside ready to aim at the doorway. Alicia realized it was the ship Carter had mentioned up ahead. it truly was strange. It didn't look anything like a Jumper yet was clearly very old.

Holding her position, Alicia decided that as soon as she made it back to Atlantis, she'd make it clear that all offworld teams were to carry explosives. They'd come here expecting a field trip and ended up with a goddamned Gremlin, right in orbit too! She could only imagine what was waiting for them once they left the relative safety of Atlantis.

She took cover behind one of the protrusions from the hull of the station, there was a wide space around here so _any_ cover was better than none.

Waiting…waiting sucked! Alicia wanted this damn thing to come out and…

The Shade barreled through the half open door slamming it so hard it tore right off its hinges, the door flying out into open space and orbit of Ares. It snarled loudly and seemed to open up a bit, taking in the light from the Sun. With a huge howl of what seemed to be pleasure, the creature trembled in delight. Alicia didn't give it a chance to enjoy it and opened fire.

The .357SIG rounds tore deep gouges into the Shade's exoskeleton, deeper and wider than the 7.62 of the SCAR, but she just couldn't fire as many as fast.

The Shade instantly reeled back, and saw Alicia crouched and firing. Instead of backing off and waiting, it leapt right at her.

Alicia suddenly realized what a _terrible_ idea it had been to do this, and jumped to the side. she hit the ground softly and rolled, just in time to see the Shade bring its spike arms down where she had just been, slamming into the dull blue of the station's hull. The spikes had worn down to nubs, hardly the razor sharp talons she'd seen on so many Shade before, but getting hit with something _blunt_ just made it all the more painful, so she raised her gun and kept firing as she backpedalled.

The landing pad suddenly didn't seem as big as Alicia would have liked, and she hoped she could dodge the Shade one more time to get a chance to run for the interior. She quickly emptied the 13 clip mag and hit the release.

The Shade was faster though and leapt at her again. This time with less momentum, but Alicia couldn't figure out why. She rolled to the side, and saw that one of the nubbed spikes had followed her and was heading right for her torso.

Instinct had her raising her hands in defense, and the spike slammed into her palms….

And the Shade bristled as it hit the magnetically held Trinium in the glove of the EVA suit Alicia was wearing. She still felt the hit along her entire body drawing a pained groan as it flung her back. She shook it off and rolled again now dangerously close to the edge. Alicia took the Shade's confusion for what it was worth.

Alicia's arms ached terribly, almost as if she'd just spent hours in the gym, but she knew the armor likely exhausted a lot of its power blocking that blow but unless…

* * *

John ran out onto the landing pad just in time to see it. Alicia had taken matters into her own hands and come to fight alongside them. He was unbelievably proud, and yet at the same time, John swore to tear a strip out of her later for being so foolish. What he saw though horrified him.

The Shade had leapt towards Alicia from behind, and using its spike in a swatting move, smacked her clear into the air like a ragdoll, up and away from the station towards the planet. She'd been hit hard enough to get clear of the station's gravity, so she was literally falling to the planet from orbit. He could hear her scream on the radio for only a second and then silence. the hit must have broken her communications package.

Both of his comrades watched as well, and John could tell they were equally distressed. He raised his rifle and growled. "Light 'em up!"

With three FN-SCAR's firing, the Shade quickly felt their rage. Bullets pinged off and took chunks of exoskeleton with them, a few managed to burrow in and cause more serious damage to the internal organs inside. The Shade knew it was outmatched and instead of fighting, took a straight vertical leap into the air after shaking off the injuries.

It quickly left combat range; bullets were useless without computer guidance. Alicia was literally knocked off the station and in free fall orbit. John felt the panic begin to rise, the Jumpers were too far off to get to them fast enough before Alicia fell too deep into the atmosphere to recover, but saw a hope nearby. He looked to Aleron and motioned. "You seen that thing before?"

Eyeing the shuttle, Aleron shook his head. "No, but let's go. We can't allow the Shade to escape and Alicia needs help."

Dan had been silenced by the exchange, merely looking up to where his friend was floating and falling into orbit. _This _was a new one.

* * *

Rafaela had seen it happen. she'd been expecting Alicia to get away as she always did, but this time it had just been too much, too fast. Sam had frozen as well, watching as both Alicia and the Shade left the immediate vicinity of the station.

The weapons were armed, whatever they were. Sam wasn't too sure about them since the language was gibberish to her, but pushing past the worry for Atlantis in general, and Alicia in specific, she keyed in targeting data and aimed for the Shade before it got out of range.

It'd be up to John to handle Alicia's problem, and Sam knew he'd stop at nothing to save her.

* * *

Jumping into the front seat of the oddly arranged craft, John turned to Aleron who seemed astonished to be inside it. "The hell? Aleron!"

Aleron moved forward and took a seat beside John at the front. "Uhh, it's Alterran."

Motioning to the controls, John screamed. "I _know_ that! Which one is 'GO'!?" John tried to decipher the symbols but was completely lost. Daniel had tried to teach him and gave up after the third smart remark.

Aleron looked it over quickly, and then pointed to a general-looking console. "There! That's…"

John reached out and flicked the switch. The craft suddenly shuddered as it dropped a few inches to the ground alarming the occupants. John turned to Aleron and snapped. "The hell was that?!"

Aleron grunted in irritation. "I was _going_ to say that that's the _overall_ flight control panel. the engine ignition is _there.' _ He pointed to another switch, this one above, then to a lever to the side. "That's thrust, and I assume you can fly something like this?"

Dan turned to John with an expectant face. He rarely ever trusted flying machines like this, _especially_ when they were god knew how old. "Just go before I change my mind!"

John did as he was instructed, and flipped the engine switch. Instantly, the ship's power systems came online and all sorts of lights and alarms came up. A panel drifted down from above and John had no idea what to do.

The engines of the craft powered up with a growl, and the ship shook slightly as it prepared to take off. John got a hold of the steering column and blew a quick calming sigh. "Hang on." With a deft move, he throttled the ship up.

It took off just like a Jumper, smooth and stable despite the odd noises. The inertial dampeners were evidently still working as John didn't feel any pressure on his back. He held the controls and waited till he was clear of the station to try and move. "Alright, I'm gonna try and get close enough that we can just open the hatch and scoop her up. Keep an eye out for that Shade just in case."

Dan gripped the passenger side seat with a death grip, his Proteus armor increasing his strength enough to dent it. "Aw, _fuck_ you serious? Isn't there some rule about _not_ opening the doors on a space ship?"

John turned to Dan incredulously. "Not when a teammate's in trouble, and that's _sir_ to you Drake."

Aleron smirked slightly at the way John reasserted his authority over the situation. This was nothing new to him. Fighting the Shade had led to a variety of combat grounds and EVA was nothing new to him. "Come, Drake. I'll need your help." Aleron got up and headed towards the back hatch.

Dan could see that he'd have to follow orders and just shut up. Aleron seemed to know what he was doing and from what he'd seen and heard, John was a good pilot.

The small craft chugged along, John trying to make heads or tails of what things were. all he needed right now was the piloting systems, but he hoped he didn't accidently fire whatever weapons this thing had if it even had any. Why the ancients would design a shuttle with a million switches and knobs with rotating panels was beyond him. John almost expected to find a turkey sandwich lying about. He _wished_ one last time that this thing had a mental interface before calling out. "I see her! Get ready to open the hatch!"

Dan still remained silent. he _hated_ when plans went like this. Aleron on the other hand looked out the side window and said. "Shade! It's coming from the side!"

John turned and looked. the radar, if that's what it was, was screaming ten different things he just didn't understand. All that mattered was that the situation had fallen apart in an instant, and now he was piloting an Ancient shuttle that looked like a water heater with wings into the atmosphere of a bombed out planet. If he'd never been convinced his life was a TV show before, he was now.

* * *

Sitting in the Jumper alone and obviously very worried, Wex nervously eyed the few weapons around him and wondered if he should grab one. "So what do you think's happening?"

Chuck shrugged his shoulders and kept an eye on the door. The shotgun he'd found in the netting above the bench would prove useful if that Shade came by. "Beats me… damn Leesh. I never got to hear her Star Trek joke."

* * *

Aleron reloaded his rifle and looked to Dan. The Serbian' Marine's anxiety was evident under his airtight helmet. "Hang on! I'm opening the hatch!"

John could swear he heard Dan curse a blue streak as he gripped onto a girder like protrusion on the ceiling, and hung on himself. John focused on piloting; Alicia was only a few hundred meters ahead and slowly picking up speed. At this rate, it'd only be a few minutes for her to accelerate to dangerous velocities and burn up in the atmosphere.

A part of John was glad that her radio had been broken, because having to listen to her screams would have been blood curdling.

John angled the ship up and accelerated more. he _needed_ to get ahead of her with enough time to catch her, and pull out of this already high speed drop. The G-forces she must have been experiencing were worrisome, so John pushed the engines harder still.

The hatch doors opened, and Aleron used his shoulder to hang onto the jamb. He looked over at Dan and called out. "I need your help! Hang onto my feet so I can catch her."

Dan had begun to breathe a lot harder. He was a _ground pounder_ dammit! This fancy flying scared the _shit _out of him. "You're a fucking lunatic." Reminding himself that this was Alicia who was at risk, Dan shut down his fears and pumped himself up. "But you're my kind of lunatic!"

Aleron nodded and slung his rifle around so it didn't butt up against the jamb, then stuck his torso out of the ship. "I see her! Move closer!"

John clicked his radio and screamed. "I _can't!_ The engine wash'll kill her! I gotta slide into place!" John moved ahead a bit more and dropped the thrusters, now relying on the planets gravity to pull them along with inertia. "Alright! I'm moving in!" The shuttle let out a few puffs of exhaust as it began to slide into the same angle Alicia was in, slowly decelerating as well. John turned back and saw the Shade glinting in the sun's light, slowly coming closer. "Hurry up back there!"

Dan took a hold of Aleron's foot by wrapping his arm around it, and then gripped onto the jamb using the strength mode to get a death grip, "Go go go! just do it!"

Aleron let himself free from the ship, and instantly felt the G-forces shoot up as he left the inertial dampening field. He groaned loudly and panted hard to try and keep from blacking out. He could just about…

"_Shoot it! Shoot the fucking thing! Shoot it-Shoot it-Shoot it!_" Dan's screams over the radio filtered through, and Aleron raised the rifle to his shoulder fighting the heavy weight of inertia. The suit allowed him to maintain his aim steady, and he looked around. Nothing.

"_Left! Left you idiot! Shoot left!"_

Turning to said direction, Aleron saw the Shade approaching. He forced his arm to hold still and surprisingly found it easy to aim with only one eye. Gently squeezing the trigger, he bullied the rifle into accuracy as the bullets flew out and connected.

The Shade shook from the surprise hits, and quickly fell back obviously not having expected the attack, but Aleron didn't have time to worry about….

_"Oomph!"_

John had decelerated a little harder than he wanted to and Alicia had come tumbling towards Aleron and smacked into him. Not losing any meaningful momentum, the pair barreled into the ship taking Dan along with them. The trio, now inside the inertial dampening field and artificial gravity, fell to the floor in a clatter of limbs, rifles, and curses John wasn't sure he understood, nor wanted to. Looking at the radar though, the Shade had decided to go for round three. "Hang on! This is gonna get rough!"

* * *

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	5. Chapter 5

Sam had finally worked out exactly how this system worked and just in time. The Shade was chasing John into the atmosphere and at this speed she wasn't sure the old shuttle would hold together under reentry. "Alright, Rafaela. transfer power now."

Rafaela nodded and tapped the necessary command in. "Done." The lights, the screen, and even the console shut off now. All power was redirected into whatever kind of weapon the station had. Sam only hoped it was enough to stop the Shade. "Firing."

Using the last bit of power the console had Sam opened fire. There was no way to tell whether it would work or not, and now the station was truly dead. None of the lights were on, the consoles had shut off completely and with the lack of any noise, it was like being inside a sensory deprivation tank.

Sam switched her headlamp on and saw Rafaela do the same. "Let's head out to the station surface, we'll have to call a Traveler ship to come pick us up."

Rafaela couldn't believe how calm Sam seemed, she was quivering in her boots, but even so…somehow she knew things would be alright. "Okay…" Her own words shocked her, when had she developed this desensitivity?

* * *

Daniel had decided to get some fresh air and stood on the balcony to the Gateroom. Ronon was busy drilling the newly dubbed "Atlantis Armed Forces", Nevas was working out a schedule for the Travelers to start teaching the Settlers the basics of physics, chemistry and biology, Teyla was helping Nevas… That left him very little to actually do now.

Sure there were things he _could_ do and things he _should_ do, and even things people would _want_ him to do… but very little he actually _had_ to do. Bernard Woolley was right. being the Prime Minister was almost _too_ easy.

Something caught his attention though, a pair of streaks in the sky. They almost looked like…

_"Doctor Jackson! Come to the control room immediately!"_

* * *

"Pull up!"

"I'm _trying!"_

"Try _harder!_"

John turned to Dan and yelled. "_Stow it, Drake!"_ He turned back and kept fighting the controls. Dan had too much freedom in the past. They'd given it to him because there wasn't any organized command structure to adhere to, but not anymore. Aleron simply remained silent as John tried to pull the ship up.

Whatever had passed through the ship had fried the controls and given them all headaches. John struggled with the manual attitude thrusters that were mechanical instead of energy powered, but it was no use. The craft had begun to shake violently as it carved a red scar along the edge of the atmosphere. John gave silent thanks to the Ancients for making such a good heat-shielded craft.

Alicia lay on the floor behind them, her back propped up on the wall. She was barely conscious, curled up as she groaned in pain. Dan saw her rolling about and decided if he was about to die, they'd find his corpse next to an attractive woman.

Aleron turned to John as the craft began to groan from the metal heating and twisting and calmly asked, "I know this is a strange question, but have you ever crash landed before?"

Finally managing to push their descent into a possibly survivable angle, John watched as the Shade Gremlin dropped as well through the side window, it was still in one piece, but whatever had hit them had seemingly killed or stunned it. "Actually… now that you mention it…" With the water fast approaching, John was ecstatic that their suits were airtight.

* * *

The air felt good on John's face, surprisingly good, although it did smell. It had that tangy odor you get in the desert, almost like the sand had a flavor inside your nose.

Even more ,there were other flavors as well in the air, water, even a little green plant life. Maybe he'd just passed out in the garden with Sam while planting coffee trees and she was teasing him awake.

And that's when John realized he wasn't wearing his helmet and opened his eyes in shock. "Hey!"

Holding him down, both Chuck and Sam kept John from falling off the stretcher he'd been laid on. Sam's voice cut clear through the fugue in his mind. "Whoa there! Calm down! You're alright."

John shook off the confusion and looked around. he was on the beach and in the distance he could see Atlantis on the water. The subtle tones of green the trees and grass nearby were starkly contrasted against the red of the sky. About a dozen people milled about attending to gods knew what. "What the? Where's…?"

Chuck shrugged and motioned over to where a Traveler shuttle was. "Inside. they were a little more banged up than you so Rey's taking a look. It's a good thing you landed over water, sir."

John blinked hard, clearing his vision of the fuzziness. "What happened? How'd we..? how'd you…?"

Sam squeezed his shoulder and gave him a reassuring smile. "Travelers. _Medai_ swung by the station and picked us up. We knew where you'd gone down so me and Chuck went under to find you. These suits work for just about any environment that's not highly acidic." Looking into her eyes, John could see that she'd actually been really worried, but he understood that she wouldn't become a blubbering mess just because he was at risk. Oddly, he appreciated that. "Vega's worst off. the G-forces really did a number on her but Carson thinks a few days in bed should fix that. Dan's got a fractured collar bone and Aleron sprained his wrist. We think you just bumped your head on the dashboard during the crash."

John rubbed the side of his head and took a better look around. there were actually three shuttles on the beach including the one he'd rode in on, and almost forty people, including Ronon who directed a group off to the side. "Oh. So _that_ explains this headache. What's up with Ronon?"

Sam and Chuck gave each other small looks then helped John up off the stretcher and onto his feet. "You're gonna wanna see this, sir."

John hooked his arms around both, but soon found that he wasn't actually all that hurt. He let go of them, but found his gloved hand in Sam's before long. They shared a sidelong glance and kept moving.

Ronon barked out orders at the passing men. "Get it tight! Double check every line! Make sure it can't move!" John walked up to Ronon who turned to face him "Hey, nice catch."

John peered around Ronon, and nearly gasped at what he saw.

* * *

Alicia wanted to scream, she wanted to cry, or maybe even just hug someone to be sure that she was actually on firm ground and not falling freely through orbit. Was it a dream? Was _this_ a dream? The pain told her no on both counts.

All that pilot training had paid off and Alicia had been able to stay coherent for most of her orbital trip. Her back ached _terribly_ from where the Shade had struck her, but overall it just felt like the worst day at the gym ever.

She opened her eyes half expecting to see the world tumbling around her. Instead, Carson's friendly face was smiling at her. "Hello there, lass. good to see you're awake."

Alicia tried to move, but instantly winced from the pain her whole body was giving. Feeling around, she could see that she'd been changed out of her uniform into more comfortable scrubs. She only hoped it wasn't Carson but in the end it didn't _really _matter. _"Owwww." _Alicia curled up a bit, noting that her toes moved freely as they'd taken off her boots and socks too. At least it was probably _just_ Carson. Alicia hated the thought that some of the Travelers could see her naked.

Carson chuckled once and nodded. "I know. Don't try and move. Your muscles are very strained from the high gravity fall and the crash didn't help." When he noticed Alicia trying to reach for her back, he added. "Your spine is fine, dear. You've got a lot of bruising back there so I wouldn't be accepting any hugs soon…" Hearing a clatter nearby, he chuckled again. "Speak of the devil…"

Alicia rolled her head a bit to look around Carson and saw a little gang of people coming her way. She also noticed that she was in a semi-private hospital room, the other bed unoccupied. John was at the lead of the little group. "Leese, good to see you're in one piece."

Snorting then regretting it from the pain Alicia looked at the five people around her. John, Sam, Rafaela, Dan and Aleron. Oddly, Reyna wasn't around, but she knew the young woman would likely be around shortly. Alicia spoke in a sarcastic and slightly pained voice. "Am I? Did someone check?"

Sam chuckled and nodded. "You're alright, Major. Granted, you may need a few days in bed, but you'll be on your feet in no time."

Dan nodded. "Just try not to fall off anymore space stations."

Alicia huffed in anger. "That's the last time I try and back _you_ up…" Realizing that _both_ her commanding officers were here, she quickly added looking to John. "Uhh about that…I…"

"S'okay." John said it simply, his voice said he'd forgiven her, but his eyes had something else. Alicia could see he had much more to say. Sam simply remained silent.

Aleron on the other hand spoke plainly. "I admit you surprise me. Not many of even my own people would challenge an Aegypias without backup or stronger weapons."

Everyone gave the Olim an odd look, and Alicia simply muttered. "Do you _always_ have to say something we don't understand?"

Dan shrugged. "I guess 'Gremlin' gets lost in translation."

Aleron sighed, and rubbed his sore wrist as he said, "Aegypias is the name we give to Class 2 Shade. It's from an older dialect. Means large flying creature of prey." Aleron seemed desperate to get off the subject and looking down at Alicia, he added. "You should take the time to meditate. With a more advanced state, you could increase your healing potential."

Smiling pedantically at him, Alicia snidely quipped, "Gee, thanks but I think I'll trust the doctors who've been doing this for years before using pseudoscience _voodoo_."

The others around her seemed a little put off by her standoffishness, especially Aleron who simply nodded and then said, "I see… As you wish, I think Chuck said something about needing assistance with something large and colorful. Excuse me."

Sam could see that Aleron felt offended and grit her teeth before saying. "I'll come with you. Knowing Chuck it'll be fun and I think I need a laugh right now."

Aleron smiled at Sam and nodded then gave a look back to Dan and John. "Captain, Colonel."

Both men gave polite nods as Sam and Aleron left. John gave Dan a harder than needed look and Dan got the point right away. "Yeah, I'll uhh… I'll go see how…" He didn't finish the sentence, instead just scurried away.

Alicia could tell that John was going to talk to her _now_. He and Sam had probably planned it so now she did the only thing left to her. "I'm sorry, John. I…"

"Why?" John's voice was almost sarcastic, as if daring her to explain herself.

Alicia knew she had to grit through this. she only wished that she wasn't in such tremendous pain or else she may have been able to get away. "Because I… I acted impulsively."

John nodded. "_Right_… and?"

Sighing, Alicia just let it out. "And… I nearly got us all killed."

Now it was John's turn to sigh, and looking away from Alicia he mused, "You just don't get it do you?"

"Sorry?"

John looked back at Alicia and calmly explained. "Every time we step out there there's a risk we're not coming back. Nearly getting us all killed is _part_ of the job." John pulled a nearby chair over with his foot and he sat down. "You know… I didn't join the SGC normally. All I was supposed to do was fly General O'Neill to some 'research outpost' and back. wasn't even supposed to know what was going on.

Alicia stayed silent, so John continued. "I asked about it later. Turns out everyone in the SGC gets hand picked because they're the cream of the crop. Even the jarheads." Alicia smiled. it was mildly amusing. John's voice wasn't though. "I'm not surprised you went above and beyond. That's just part of who you are… I _know_ what you did in Iraq, and I'm proud to serve with you. I'm just shocked you don't realize what that means for the rest of us."

Alicia blinked a few times. "Pardon?"

Gritting his teeth, John quietly explained. "You know what makes a good commander? He loves the people under him." Staring her straight in the face, John waited a second for effect. "You know what makes a _great_ commander? Someone who's willing to destroy what they love."

Alicia finally understood. It wasn't the mission or the combat that bothered them. They'd been through too much training and action to let it get to them easily. It was this. it was the risks they had to take to protect those in her situation then later seeing them in infirmaries or worse.

John finished his thought. "You never did command level training. So you don't know what that's like. But think about this: Every time someone under my command gets hurt or… I have to ask myself if there's anything I could have done to change that." Bowing his head, John got up and prepared to leave. "I still don't have an answer to that." Before he started walking away though, he added. "One last thing. Lay off Aleron. I don't give a _damn_ whether you like him or not. he just helped me pull your sorry ass out of orbit and you could be a _little_ grateful. See that you are."

With that, John left Alicia alone in her semi-private hospital room. The other bed in the room was still empty, but she still suddenly felt very exposed. John had just given her a very hard lesson, one that was just as hard to forget as the feeling of falling from orbit and having nothing to stop you.

* * *

"Sheppard, uhh, sir...?"

John turned towards his name, Dan stood there half-sheepishly. "Drake."

In the hallway outside Alicia's hospital room, Dan tried to make himself look respectful of John. "I uhh… I just wanted to apologize for my behavior on the shuttle. There's no excuse for what I did."

John understood and even more, Dan coming to him like this meant that he still had a healthy respect for the chain of command. They'd still not worked out exactly how their former ranks could match up to the new structure, but it didn't matter much. "Is that all?"

Dan nodded Marines didn't grovel and they _certainly_ didn't try and deflect blame for something they'd done. "Yes, sir."

John sighed, Dan had learned, no need to keep pestering him. "Fear of flying?"

Shrugging, Dan deadpanned. "Not flying, crashing, sir."

John couldn't help but chuckle at that. "Ha-ha, yeah that never gets old." Feeling the need for something a little less tense, John motioned to Dan. "Aw, come on, let's go find Ronon and grab a beer. My head's still killin' me and I wanna know how our little friend is doing."

Dan smirked softly and nodded. "Yes, sir."

* * *

Ronon sat down by Dusty as he always did around this time. She had her own private room now, a variety of life support machines hooked up to her keeping her alive despite lack of consciousness. Ronon knew that he wasn't the only one to come down here anymore, but the nurses left him alone when he did. It'd been an interesting day and he had a lot to catch her up on.

Just as he did though, he heard a ruckus outside the room. He recognized Chuck's voice in the hallway along with an odd animal sound. "_Yee haw!"_

Getting up, Ronon stuck his head out the doorway and did a slight double take. Chuck was riding a huge multicolored cow-like animal slowly towards him like some majestic beast. Carson had noticed the ruckus and came out of his office a few doors down. "Oh, _Crivens! _CHARLES! For the love of god, what the bloody hell are you doing!" The Scottish doctor did _not_ seem friendly.

Chuck on the other hand was swaying back and forth on his noble multicolored steed and heading towards the hospital room at the end of the hallway. "I heard Leesha's beat up! Wanted to cheer her up!" He was completely decked out in a similar get-up as the cow, with a red and orange robe on. He even had a rainbow towel around his head with a beach ball decorating the top. Ronon thought it was the most ridiculous thing he'd even seen and simply shut the door to let Carson deal with it.

Taking his seat in Dusty's private room again, Ronon sighed as he looked at the still unconscious young woman. "So things are pretty normal here in the city, but Sheppard got into some trouble in orbit…"

* * *

**End of episode 24.**

.

_Teaser for Episode 25 – Exposed to the Light_

**Aleron:** Do you mind?

**Reyna:** Just be careful.

**Aleron:** _Rrraaahhh!_

**Reyna:** Uhh… _wow!_

**Aleron:** _That_… was satisfying.

* * *

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**Episode Notes: **Choo1701 proclaims this the first SG1 style story, with no real adding to the main underlying plot of Dark Frontier, some exploration, and of course, getting into trouble :) There will be many more episodes like this and Season 2 is looking to be 28 or so episodes long.

What Choo _doesn't_ know is that there is an aspect of this episode which foreshadwos a later aspect :D whuhahahaha!

And the multicolored cow... yes... i think that'll be the mascot for Dark Frontier from now on :D

As far as the teaser for 25, hee hee hee...expect it to start sometime next week

Many thanks to Choo, Neela, and IceMenace for their continued support, Our whole is greater than the sum of our parts! (Although Neela does _exceptional_ angst and IceMenace can make just about anyone laugh.)


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